His game against Drake Wednesday night was a career day for NIU basketball’s junior guard Al Sewasciuk.

A 6-foot-4 Argo native, Sewasciuk finished the 77-62 NIU victory with a career high of 25 points. He also topped his previous high of six field goals on solely his seven made three-point field goals, which was also a career-best.

All but one of his 12 field goal attempts was beyond the arc, which he failed to connect on.

“I can’t pronounce his name, but No. 24, he really got NIU going in the first half shooting some threes,” Drake coach Kurt Kanaskie said. “We knew he was a very good three-point shooter. I felt they did a good job of finding him and he knocked them down.”

Sewasciuk’s seven three-pointers fell short by one of the all-time NIU mark, held by none other than current assistant coach Donald Whiteside.

Whiteside, a former NBA player, had eight three-pointers on March 5, 1990, against Wright State.

“Coach Whiteside wanted to take him out with 10 minutes left in the game,” NIU basketball coach Rob Judson said.

Sewasciuk went into halftime shooting 4-of-6 from the three-point line with 12 points. For the night, Sewasciuk also contributed three assists and three steals, which helped Judson make note of his improvement on the defensive end.

“Now we can keep him on the floor because he’s playing some defense,” Judson added. “He’s gotten stronger and has done a lot of work.”

Post player Marcus Smallwood finished the game with a career-high four assists, which were mostly thanks to Sewasciuk.

“It’s a credit to the inside players that get us such wide-open shots,” Sewasciuk said. “Once I got in the rhythm, I didn’t pay attention for getting my feet set or anything; just tried to get the shots up.”